BMW Concept Active Tourer combines comfort and sustainable driving

BMW is bringing its BMW Concept Active Tourer to the 2012 Paris Motor Show, which takes place September 29 to October 14. The four-door plug-in hybrid concept car showcases technology that combines fuel efficiency and comfort in a design aimed at the premium compact market.

The BMW Concept Active Tourer isn’t a high performance concept that’s all revs and road handling, nor is it one of those blue-sky concepts that does away with things like wheels. Instead, BMW places the emphasis on comfort, sporty elegance, lots of interior space and getting the most fuel economy out of a plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

With its long wheelbase, high-gloss finish and slightly front-tilted BMW radiator grille, it certainly is eye-catching. BMW’s design team wanted to provide the Tourer with “a dynamic feel even when stationary.” Its two large outer air inlets below the headlights provide a sense of aggressive width and the wedge-shaped silhouette gives what would be an otherwise boxy sedan with a large tailgate an impression of speed and quick handling. However it performs in real life, BMW wants this car to look like a mover – and a comfortable one at that.
BMW Concept Active Tourer cutaway view (Image: BMW)

The BWM Concept Active Tourer is 4.5 meters (14.76 ft) long, has a width of 1.8 meters (5.9 ft) and a total height of 1.5 meters (4.92 ft), so there’s plenty of leeway for interior space. Under the bonnet, it’s a plug-in hybrid using the eDrive concept from the BMW i8 with a 1.5-liter injection, twin-turbo 3-cylinder petrol engine with the fully variable VALVETRONIC valve control system that puts out a reasonable 190 bhp (140 kW).

For the first time for a BMW, the engine only runs the front wheels. The rear wheels are powered by the Tourer’s 200 Nm (146.5 ft-lb) electric motor system, which runs off of lithium-ion batteries that can be charged from any 240-volt outlet.

BMW aims at sporty performance with decent fuel mileage for the Tourer, but manages a not very impressive 0 – 100 km/h (62 mph) in eight seconds and a maximum speed of about 200 km/h (124 mph). However, it’s in the realm of fuel economy that BMW excels, with 2.5 liters per 100 kilometers (94.08 mpg), a range of over 30 kilometers (18.64 mi) running on electrics alone, and emissions of only 60 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (3.4 oz per mi).
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